Additional Saturday forays planned

Greetings All,
We have additional forays planned for Saturday! With the foray ending early on Saturday, we have found some extra mushroom hunting time. Sue Poland and I talked quite a bit Saturday on our scouting expedition on how to extend the foray.

This is the plan:
Check out of Quaker Hill Saturday morning by 11 AM.
Get a lunch
Meet at the Payette Lake Public Beach parking lot on Hwy 55 East of the
Payette River bridge in McCall at 12 noon.

Foray #1 Short local foray with Dr Walt Sundberg.
12:15, leave the parking lot.

This is a local foray looking mainly for morels and anything else we did
not bring in for identification. At 2 PM, drive to Hope Miller's home and
either head for home or go on Foray #2.

Foray #2 2:30 PM Leave from Miller's for a "Going Home Morel Hunt."

Led by Bryan and Sue Poland to brand new morel areas they found Sunday (yesterday). Pick morels for as long as you want, then go home whenever you want to.
There is no official cost for this foray, but a $10 contribution to help defray the cost of our mycologist would be appreciated. If you don't have $10, please come anyway.

So if your are coming up for Friday evening foray festivities, dinner and program, and wish to camp and stay over for Saturday's special hunts, there are SIMA members snuggled about in tents somewhere in the McCall area. If you are one of these people, or plan to be, let me know and I can tell others where you plan to pitch your tent, and they may decide to keep you company. If you want to camp alone---that's great. just don't tell me and I won't put it out to the rest of the world where you are.

If you think you can drive to McCall early Saturday morning, this would be a great couple of forays, just or the cost of the fuel to get there and your own lunch.

LaReta always finds tree frogs in holes. These frogs kind of look like morels.
Good Mushrooming, Genny Steiner

This is Sue. Genny, Bryan and I scouted the foray sites for this week on Saturday. We went to a variety of elevations to see what was growing. There is more stuff out there than morels! I think we will do very well with the wet, warmer weather predicted. For those of you who are coming up just for Friday, consider staying Friday night. After the cleanup from the foray, Bryan and I are willing to share some of our spots for morel hunting. We have been doing very well, and the second flush looks like it will be timed perfectly. The ones we found yesterday were very big, and very fresh! We collected 17 lbs in the past two days. My Christmas gifts are done for the year! So if you haven't registered, contact Genny ASAP~ looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday or Friday.

Bill's take on the Sunday Morel Hunt

Reta and I checked out the area we hunted Saturday and Sunday, but only found a couple of morels. Then we hunted along Cabin Creek, but found nothing. Then we drove over the bridge and started hunting about four tenths of a mile on the south side of the road. We ended up walking for miles and found the road on top that one can take just as one crosses the bridge. Turn right. We like to hunt the areas that Kevin hunts because he misses so many that we can have a really good day of hunting. We also found an aspen that had been cut down in the burn area and it was covered with oysters so we brought those home, also. Thanks Kevin for leaving those for us.

Part of Reta's mother lode Immediately behind Reta she found 54 large morels in an area no larger than ten by twenty feet. We found one other about ten feet from that area. She was stoked. She had been having some trouble spotting the morels. Usually she finds them and then I try to find some around the area. But, Wednesday I had the upper hand. Then she found the mother lode. Pretty exciting.You have to understand that when one hunts morels with Reta that one is in for an adeventure. We have our bucket full of one hundred morels. We are hoofing it back on a logging road when I hear a shriek behind me. I turn to see Reta fumbling for her camera and looking down a hole that looks very much like a snake hole. I am thinking there are snakes up here? No there is a tree frog. He/she is only an inch long or so. Cute. Reta does have a picture of a snake though that she might post, but she is busy getting ready to leave for Italy Saturday morning. We found the bull snake dead on the MF road near highway 95. I rolled back to get a better look at it and Reta snapped the picture from the open window of the pickup. I suggested that she could get a better angle by opening the door (after all the snake is dead). That suggestion gained no traction whatsoever. Debbie and Jim look over the Sunday morning take. Debbie is an experienced Wisconsin morel hunter. She explained to me how she would have to use a walking stick to keep parting the grass to see the morels. Geez, it is hard enough to see the morels without them hiding in the grass. Isn't e-mail transmission wonderful.? I found this slime mold while looking for morels Saturday, but did not know it was slime mold. I just thought it was interesting that when I touched the side of one of these one-eighth inch globes it bled red. I sent the picture to Genny and she sent back the ID. Thanks, Genny!!Bob and Karen on their first mushroom hunt. Bob had no idea what a morel looked like, but he found the first two. Karen had confined her morel hunts to the supermarket where she had great success. I asked them after we found the first two if they were okay with a three way split on the take. They thought that was fine and suggested that they take half. I insisted on a three way split. After they had found the first thirty or so and I still had not found one, I was getting really embarrassed and suggested that they take all the mushrooms. I spent the first half hour running the bucket back and forth between the two. Finally, I found one and seemed to catch up.

We were suppose to be on a fishing trip to Oxbow for smallmouth bass, but when I suggested that I thought it was too cold to go fishing they wanted to know what I was going to do? I suggested a morel hunt and they were up for the challenge. They were very good sports and enjoyed themselves. The others in our party head for Oxbow Saturday morning, but got into a white out snow blizzard on top of Brownlee Summit and turned back for home. On Saturday we found this log of oysters a about five hundred yards west of the Cabin Creek CG. First, about the guy in the campground with the green containers full of morels. Reta and I were hunting yesterday (Wed.) and talked to the guy that operates the grader you might have seen on the MF road near the CG. He says the guy we saw in the grey pickup who was riding the 4-wheeler around was one of two morel buyers who had been in the area buying morels for $9 a pound. The buyer was not in the CG on Wednesday.

Debbie, Jim and I worked the same area that my friends Karen and Bob Maki had worked the day before about three hundred yards north of the CG. Karen, Bob and I had found about 100 morels. Debbie, Jim and I had found 75 in the same area before we ate lunch at 2:00. Debbie split with Genny after lunch and Jim and I worked the same area again and found 62 between 3:00 and 5:20 when we finally left for home.

Kevin's story

Hello
I also went up to Cabin Creek area on Sunday. I changed cars in case Betts was trying to find my secret spots. Wendy was to sick to go so I went by myself. I found a full grocery bag of black morels on the steep slopes. I moved around a little but found most of them in an area within 3 miles of cabin creek. I saw a big black bear running as fast as he could go the other way and a turkey. My normal area wasn't doing well yet. I think this week-end should still be good. You need to walk and cover some ground. I like to work the bottom of a canyon then when I find some I work uphill. There are still a lot of really small ones coming up. I have enough for the year but may go back if a friend needs a couple.

Genny's Take on Sunday's Morel Hunt!

After having so many people call and e-mail to cancel out on the morel hunt due to snow and cold in Boise, and north to Cascade, I did what I said I wouldn't do. I canceled the hunt, but said I would go because there would be gung-ho die-hard morel pickers who would not get the e-mail and show up at Mann Creek Store parking lot. I then get an e-mail from Sue Poland around 10 PM. Beautiful day and good hunting. No snow in Cambridge Saturday. I then get an e-mail from Bill Betts and picking was good for him Saturday also up the Middle Fork of the Weiser River near Cabin Creek Campground. I tell him I am going. Bob Chehey un-chickens out and decides to go after all. Debbie Duncan had already called and said she would ride up with me to the rendezvous spot. My spouse also decides to go. Truck is now seriously full.

Jim Torell is waiting for us at Mann Creek Store. He did not get the e-mail. Bill Betts shows up. Herb and Trudy Naugle show up. My phone rings and Jim Baxter is waiting in Cambridge. We hit the road and pull into the Ag shop. No Sue. four Atteberrys show up. Linda Fleetwood shows up. Sue comes out of the greenhouse and Bryan shows up. Jim Baxter shows up. We now have quite a parade heading toward Council and the Middle Fork Road.
What Sue didn't say was that Bryan had to climb down a steep slope to the creek to find this mother load of morels. Once the Polands drove from Fall creek to Cabin Creek to spread the word and shared their wealth, everyone but Bill Betts, Jim Baxter, Bob Chehey, Debbie Duncan, Mike and myself jumped ship and went roaring off to Fall Creek again.

Around 4:30 we left a note under Bill's windshield wiper telling him we were leaving for civilization and going home.

Conclusion: The morels on Cabin Creek were very well picked over before we got there. There were 2 groups of people on ATV's picking morels on the hillsides past the campground. They were dumping them in large plastic crates. The morels on Fall Creek are just starting to pop up. I'd really like to see the ATV people try and drive their rigs down and back up the hillside where Bryan found his bonanza. That could be fun to watch.
A good time was had by all, and everyone got some morels. I knew I should have followed Bryan!
Genny Steiner

SIMA Morel Hunt

From Sue.....my tale from the morel hunt on Sunday

After Genny canceled the planned hunt due to weather, I planned to meet her at the shop to see what we could find anyway! I was watering the greenhouse when I heard a car door slam, then another and another! There were over a dozen hunters who gathered to see what we could find here in the upper country.

Bill Betts had scouted the day before, and found 2-3 gallons near Cabin Creek. Bryan wanted to try the other fork, not knowing whether or not we would find them. So we took a right at the fork, and four cars followed us into unknown territory. (I would of took the sure thing at Cabin Creek, but I wasn't driving!) Some of us stopped and looked in one spot...nothing. Genny and another group proceeded up the road to check another site. Bryan said he would stay between the two groups, looking for the elusive black morels.

Not long after my group decided to move on, Genny and crew came barreling down the road. Nothing! Not much of anything growing. So my crew and Genny's crew head down the road to Cabin Creek. Despite offers of rides, I decide to wait for Bryan. I have my dog Sarah with me, covered with mud. After all, he was between Genny and me, so he had to see everyone was leaving. So I sent everyone off to hopefully more successful hunting in Cabin Creek.

A snow squall moves in, so I holed up in a pocket under some hawthornes and pine trees to stay dry. Surely he would be coming down the road within the next few minutes. The sun comes out, so I take a snooze, confident Sarah would let me know when the car was approaching. I listened to grouse with their LEK calls, hawks screaming overhead, and the creek roaring below. All in all, not a bad place to spend a Sunday afternoon with my dog. Another BIG snow squall comes in. Now the adventure is wearing thin....I am cold and wet. It has been over an hour - closer to two. I think.....he had better be in mushrooms or else! But why didn't he see everyone leave?

Finally here he comes, without his shirt on under his coat. In our house that is a good sign....he had to give up his shirt as a mushroom holder. Sure enough, he had to give up two shirts to get the morels up the steep hill. He had found several gallons, a couple of hundred yards BEYOND where Genny had stopped...not in between the groups like we had planned! So I guess it was worth the wait..everyone who wanted morels got some to enjoy.



PS..the day before, we got into some big Blondes under cottonwoods. When I add to the post tomorrow with pictures, check out the big guy. He is taller than my waterbottle!

Blondes continuing to Produce in Cambridge

Well, the weather is cold, the snowberry is not yet leafed out, but we still have blonde morels popping up. It rained a bit today, and is supposed to warm up this week, so maybe the others will begin to poke up! There is one monster bigger then my hand in the upper left corner.

Morels in Cambridge

Bryan and I went on a jaunt on Monday to see what was happening in the lower elevations of Cambridge. As Bryan put it....score!





He found a few blondes (Morchella esculenta) and brought them to school to show them off. He always picks while I am working...the life of a househusband! Then he found one Morchella deliciosa.



Then it was my turn. He took me to his spot, and I went down into the brush further, braved the thornbush and the mud banks. He kindly said I had found enough to put on my half of the pizza he was making for dinner!


We found a few more today.








Then we went to a large downfall of cottonwood trees at a local ranch. Bryan had been watching an oyster stump. We got enough for the mushroom pizza, and for me to cook and feed to 14 students.
There was a beautiful column of them..very fresh.



They say three is a charm....and we found a third excellent edible...one of our favorites, but rare in this area (or at least we can't find them very often!) Hericium sp.

Then there is always a puzzling one....This mushroom should be Polyporus badius, but according to the books, it is found in the fall. I guess it is possible they held over the winter....

Anyway, looking forward to further explorations. Let us know if you want to head up our way!

What Bill Betts and LaReta Johnson Saw Morel Hunting!

Bill tried to put these pictures on the blog. He had trouble and inserted a link this morning. I am going to try to show the road, the flowers, the wildlife, (not the snake) , the participants, and the morels. Genny Steiner. Here Goes! The following is by Bill, as he wrote about he and LaReta's journey in search of Morels.

Morel HuntIf one were to drive all the way from Boise with the excitement of the Great Morel Hunt coursing through one's veins, one probably would find the the scene picture above somewhat of a downer. Reta and I are watching this situation closely hoping to prevent this from happening to our dear club members from the Big City.

More road damage.

Another picture of the raging Mann Creek. The late snow falls this spring have swollen Mann Creek and filled the reservoir. The water is spilling over the glory hole and there are some who live along Mann Creek who are reportedly more than a little tight jawed over the situation. We saw a half dozen places where the creek has jumped its banks and covered the road causing damage to the road, but not making it impassable--at least as far as we drove. There might be more significant damage farther up the creek. I will check with the USFS Weiser District Office as to the availability of the road on the 16th of May. Mushroom hunting should be good if we can get to those burn areas, but this has been a most unusual spring.

The following is a clutch of turkey eggs. I found them under a tree strewn about a bit. Maybe puffballs, already? No. Very cold turkey eggs. I don't know what happened to the hen, but turkey season has been opened for 13 days, so some unethical hunter may have shot her. These eggs were found on Keithly Creek and we did see three turkeys on Mann Creek.

Morel hunting was not producing and, as you might know, when with Reta one stops often to take pictures of wild flowers. So we did. Good stop. Oh, yeah, this fortunate decision led to finding some morels. The only ones all day long.

The following picture was suppose to show the snowflakes, but alas, the snow came down hard at the most inconvenient times. This was not an inconvenient time. Some of the time we were bathed in sunshine, and sometimes we were just bathed. What a day.

Wouldn't you know it--these mouthwatering oysters were on a tree on the other side of Mann Creek and Mann Creek was inviting only fools to cross this day. Good thing Reta was along to keep me from trying to cross that raging torrent. Telephoto lens brought the oysters into the picture.

Ah Hah. Finally, the prize. Reta and I only found five morels and they were all in the same place on a road bank under a little duff under a bush. So, the day was not much of a success, but we did get to see lots of things, experienced four snow/hail storms and have a snake slither right over Reta's foot. And she saw it. Pretty exciting. I will let her tell the story. She can really get into that story, big time. I don't blame her. Oh, yes, and to set the record straight any accounts circulating about Reta having to change any of her garments after her snake encounter are, I can assure you, greatly exaggerated.

Attempted Post by PapaCoyote at 7:14 PM

2010 SIMA Mushroom Class Field Trip May 1

We traveled through Idaho City and part way down the New Centerville Road. We had over 10 people turn out. We found the following mushrooms: Heterotexus alpina, Neohygrophorus angelesianus, Fomitopsis pinicola, Clitocybe glacialis, Tyromyces leucospongia, Mucena overholtzii, Mycena purpureofusca, possibly Gyromitra leucozanthor, Descina perlata, Calvatia fumosa, Gloephyllum sepiarium, Cortinarius cinnanmoneus, a Galarina species which paracitizes moss, and a slime mold that Mike Cooper called "Dog Vomit". Shown below!

We were snowed on briefly 2 or 3 times. The only edible found was Gyromitra montana (gigas). Since this is a false morel and may cause problems, and a lot of people do eat this "brain mushroom", Bob and I recommend not eating it.

And a good time was had by all!
Genny Steiner, Bob Chehey, Foray Leaders

Bryan and Sue's Road Trip

Must be mushrooms in the air....Bryan and I went with Genny, Bob and Fran, along with several new hunters up to Idaho City, about 4700 ft. It snowed, if that tells you anything. Found some interesting things, first pig's ears of the season.

Then, we had to see just how bad the road that Funguy wants us to go up in two weeks. The floods were pretty bad. We went up two different forks. Found lots of half caps (Verpas) under the hawthorns, just coming up. Found snow and running water over the Justright Campground. But there were lots of things growing, just no morels yet!

But around here, the verpas are up 1-2 weeks before the morels, so timing looks good!

Kevin's road trip

Hello I had a cold and Wendy was out of town so I took a short road trip yesterday with Jaz our dog. We drove to an area to look at an old burn but it seems like it is still a little to early further North. We then went to Emmett via Horseshoe Bend. I stopped along the road a couple of times and found some nice morel patches. We ended up back in Boise and I found 20 to 30 nice yellow morels in a new spot. I went to my old standby spot on Wed or Thursday and picked about 30 with some black morels starting to pop up also. I think the yellows are about done but with a little luck the blacks will come on strong. The yellows are starting to get dried out. Make sure they aren't starting to smell if you are going to keep them. I have been finding some in the long grass along roads and paths. Make sure it isn't a place where all of the dogs go. I went to the Owyhee river today to fish but never got my waders on because it was to slow. I stopped along the river in some Cottonwoods but the sandy soil is so dry that I don't think the morels would do well. I did see some old dried up Oysters. A couple of tips for the people having trouble. The bigger the elm or cottonwood the better. If the base of the tree has green grass or weeds that is usually best. I find the big trees on the South edges of the woods to be best. The trees buried in the center in the dark areas that have little green growth at their base to not be as good. I am still a beginner but pretty lucky I guess. Eat your heart out Betts